"Fireball!"
"Ward!"
I countered the only spell skill one of the beastkin knew. There were two still combat-capable beastkin left as I turned to face them. They were hesitating and afraid. It was obvious from their expressions.
I rushed at them, and they fled. I thought about pursuing, but night was near; I needed to find shelter. They would report back, which would be unfortunate, but chasing them and killing them would be difficult.
I would be at a disadvantage going after them. It was frustrating, but Ozy was already getting quite cold. He wouldn't be able to fly after them.
"No! Help me!" The beastkin missing two hands screamed. The other two beastkin, blinded by Ozy, were being carried away.
Ozy landed on the head of the handless beastkin.
Walking over, I lifted my sword, and he collapsed to his knees.
"Heal him."
I didn't want to heal him but to give him some hope and not have him die right away. I wanted information. Ozy used Cure and part of his hand stumps regrew.
If I really wanted, we could have healed his missing hands entirely, but it wasn't worth the Mana when he was going to die.
"Who sent you?"
"Firefox — it was Firefox."
"Anyone else coming after me?"
"There was supposed to be another team, but you left too quickly."
"And do you know who told Firefox?"
"No. No, I know nothing."
I swung my Reforged Beginner's Blade and removed his head. I let my spell skill Vibration Blade stop.
"Clean." That removed the blood. The other four beastkin were already quite a way down the mountain, running like their lives depended on it.
"Whiteclaw clearly pushed things off onto another beastkin. Clever."
He let his competitor know about me. If I won, his competitor would lose minions, thus weakening him. He guessed that my strength was enough to make it a fight to the death at least.
There was no proof, but I wasn't ignorant of such schemes. I could only shake my head. I didn't like the beastkin's society, but I had no grudge against them. Even after what they did to Stormy, she had more than paid them back on her own, killing hundreds of weaker beastkin.
My Danger Sense rapidly increased. It was getting dark, but I had spent nights out on these mountains without issue. Looking toward the settlement, I saw the four beastkin who had been running come to a stop.
Something rushed at them.
Though I couldn't see the details from that far, something killed them. Whatever had done it had a lot of Mana and my Danger Sense was practically screaming at me. I immediately turned away and began running with everything I had.
Whatever had killed the fleeing beastkin was a monster. The intelligence to strike a target after the fight indicated some kind of intelligence.
A demon, there was a demon out there.
Ozy used Greater Refresh on me while I adjusted my stride using Empowered Stealth. I didn't want to leave any tracks if possible. My Danger Sense was fluctuating. I wasn't entirely sure what that meant. I figured the demon was conflicted about whether to chase me.
Looking up at the sky, I saw that it was getting darker. The air was getting colder. I needed to stop for the night, but my Danger Sense made me concerned. The timing of the earlier battle hadn't accounted for a demon showing up.
It had to be as strong as a legend. I couldn't risk a fight. But I couldn't travel through the night.
Reaching the base of a stone cliff, Ozy and I got to work.
"Vibration Blade."
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I pushed my sword into the rock and cut out a circular pyramid. Ozy was quickly creating layers of ice around the hole I had made in the rock. I really wish I had Stone Wall to build up more defenses.
Then, I used my sword to cut back and downwards directly. Against a superior opponent, fighting in a single direction was an advantage. I deactivated the spell skill and then pulled the rock out with my hands.
Ozy had left an opening that I used to toss the rock out of. Once I was done, he sealed up the outside with a dome of ice. There were three small holes he left. One near the ceiling, two near the ground.
No opening a person could squeeze into. It was incredibly dark inside my cave, but that was fine. Ozy snuggled against me under my clothes, and I didn't dare use Fire Blade for a while to heat things up. My Danger Sense was slowly increasing, not going down.
I retrieved a shield from my spatial storage. Using it meant I couldn't boost spells with hand signs, but that's acceptable since I needed quick defense.
The air became colder. It felt like my blood was going to freeze in my body. But avoiding a fight was the best option. I heard a scrape of something against the outside of the ice shell.
My grip on my sword and shield increased.
"What is in here?" a deep guttural voice muttered.
My Danger Sense was practically exploding. Not even with Xanatos had it been this high.
I adjusted my positioning, ready to spring forward. The moment the demon broke through the ice was the moment I needed to leap forward and strike the ice.
Not the demon. I would not target the demon. I kept my focus on the ice shell.
It was a small thing, but I didn't want to alert the demon. A hand and arm suddenly smashed through the ice dome.
"Fire Blade!"
I was lunging forward.
"Ward!"
Ozy made the ice lock onto the arm, trapping it, so the demon couldn't pull it backwards. My blade struck the magical barrier and came to a stop for a second. There was the sound of more ice shattering while Ozy tried to keep it all together.
My fire blade cut and burnt the top of the hand after the Ward spell skill broke. Each nail appeared to have been sharpened to deadly points. My blade cut across the top of the wrist and then the arm, affecting the ice.
I lifted my blade up and pushed it down, angling it into the arm.
The monster screamed.
I wasn't cutting all the way through. I probably should have used Vibration Blade for better cutting power, but I needed the heat and the light.
The arm and hand recoiled. The ice dome shattered outwards. A figure wearing the pelts of beastkin stood there, towering over me at one and a half times my height. I was about the size of the beastkin, so this demon was far larger than all of us.
I noted their red eyes, pointed ears, fangs, and very pale skin in the blade's light. They had retreated backwards, clutching their burnt and cut arm. The cold wind cut through me in the darkness, with my blade as the only source of light beneath the overcast sky.
They looked like a man, but this was no man. It was a demon.
"Lightning Beam!"
The demon shifted to the side so fast that it pushed away the surrounding air.
"Lightning Beam!"
The demon kicked off the ground, dodging to the side. After all I'd been through, my Mana was half depleted. The cold wasn't helping. While my resistance skills didn't actively consume Mana, they took Mana to sustain, which slightly lowered my regeneration rate.
The demon rushed in; his eyes locked onto me. The demon's right hand was ready like a sword, while he kept the injured left one at his side. I moved my shield up to block the blow. His attack pierced through the weak wood.
I was already backing away and had let go of the shield, leaving it on the demon's arm. Ozy poked his head out of cloak and breathed out, Toxic Breath. The demon flicked his arm, intercepting most of Ozy's skill and then dodging to the side.
"Lightning Beam!"
I hit the demon in the leg. His body froze for a moment. I rushed forward and swung while Ozy tried to lock the demon's feet in ice. The demon emitted a burst of Mana, breaking the stun lock and the forming ice. He then ran away into the darkness.
My Danger Sense sharply decreased as the demon fled into the snowy and inky blackness of these ice-covered mountains. I made my way back to my ruined shelter. There was no use in pursuing the demon. His physical stats were higher than mine. He could pick the time of the engagement and disengage if he wanted. My stats were less, and my skills couldn't make up the difference.
Ozy closed the shelter again in ice.
"Good job, Ozy," I said and scratched my pet's head in thanks. He had saved me from the beastkin and the demon. The investment in him had been worth it.
Having a second Mana pool and pet to act while I was fighting was a useful surprise. He wouldn't be able to fit in my clothes for much longer. But for now, it was an incredibly useful surprise, allowing me to win or draw in my fights.
The main issue was that the demon had survived its injuries. There was no uncertainty in my mind that it would pursue me. Its injury gradually started healing, but because it could attack and retreat, it might eventually wear me down.
Fighting against such an opponent was tricky. I would see what it did and prepare a trap if necessary. If the demon thought it could kill and eat me, the monster had another thing coming.
My sword through his neck.
The absence of a weapon in the demon's arsenal, relying solely on its hands, presented a significant advantage to me. Melee combat is less effective than weapon-based combat, as weapons absorb impact and maintain a lethal edge.
Fighting with his bare hands risked them if I blocked. It also meant that the demon had to close the distance. I was down a shield and some Mana. The demon's left arm was injured, and it was also lightly poisoned.
Nothing serious, but I would rate the exchange in my favor. Unfortunately, it had the power of a legend. The only reason the fight went in my favor was that it was probably used to fighting beastkin in melee. Its superior stats would offer an immense advantage in such a fight.
I had spell skills and Ozy.
While he couldn't use the more powerful aspects of Alchemically Bounded Field unless a target remained stationary, his support was more than enough. His Toxic Breath attack was perfect for close range area of effect.
While I had heated my shelter, it was still freezing. There was no point in hiding anymore since the demon had found me. I could only hope it wouldn't pursue me, but I doubted the demon would be so considerate.